Application of EU’s Emissions Trading System rules improving

Application of the rules that underpin the European Union’s Emissions Trading System is improving, with more complete data being reported by EU Member States, according to a new assessment published by the European Environment Agency today. However, improvements are still needed in monitoring and reporting, both by operators and countries.

The assessment identified four areas where the directive was implemented well. These include: the use of certain flexibilities to reduce administrative burden for smaller emitters; the completeness of sampling plans to better determine emissions; the use of more accurate methods by installations for measuring emissions; and the decreasing number of complaints against accredited companies in charge of verifying emissions reports.

Areas for improvement

Several areas were identified where improvements would enhance the application of the EU ETS Directive. These include in particular: better reporting by operators on possible improvements to monitoring; more detailed verification procedures; better reporting of biofuel use and better implementation of monitoring and reporting requirements by aircraft operators; better notification of authorities by operators on changes to their installations; better coordination between different authorities within countries; or improved reporting by countries on penalties for non-compliance.

Background

The report is prepared by the EEA and its European Topic Centre for Air pollution and Climate Change Mitigation (ETC/ACM). Under Article 21 of the EU ETS Directive, EU Member States must report to the European Commission every year on their progress in implementing the directive. This assessment is based on a questionnaire which the EEA uses as a basis for its evaluation.

Trump’s EPA policies risk more Alzheimer’s cases, doctors warn

Two new studies support findings that polluted air causes dementia.

Researchers have found that particulates from coal plants (like this one in Kansas) and vehicles increase the risk of dementia. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Two new studies add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution is causing higher rates of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Particulate matter may be responsible for more than one in five dementia cases, as the smallest particles appear to travel directly from the nose to the brain, where they do considerable damage.

Tragically, the new president campaigned on rolling back Clean Air Act rules and boosting coal use, which, along with vehicle exhaust, is the principal source of particulates.

“If people in the current administration are trying to reduce the cost of treating diseases, including dementia,” physician-epidemiologist Dr. Jiu-Chiuan Chen told the L.A. Times, “then they should know that relaxing the Clean Air Act regulations will do the opposite.”

Chen is the senior lead author for a new 11-year epidemiological study in the Nature journal Translational Psychiatry. His team of researchers found that older women breathing air pollution that exceeds the EPA’s standard for fine particles (PM2.5) “are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s.”

PM2.5 is particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. In comparison, a strand of human hair is more than 20 times wider than PM2.5.

“Microscopic particles generated by fossil fuels get into our body directly through the nose into the brain,” co-author Prof. Caleb Finch, a leading expert on dementia, said in a statement. “Cells in the brain treat these particles as invaders and react with inflammatory responses, which over the course of time, appear to exacerbate and promote Alzheimer’s disease.”

This gif accompanied the study’s news release. CREDIT: University of Southern California

The other key study released last month was published in the journal Lancet and found “living close to heavy traffic was associated with a higher incidence of dementia.”

Canadian researchers found that those living within 50 meters (160 feet) of high-traffic roads “had a seven percent higher likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 meters (984 feet) away from busy roads.”

The air near major roads has been found to have particulate levels 10 times greater than the air just a few hundred feet away.

Given the devastating impact that dementia has on individuals and families — not to mention the enormous economic costs — this evidence suggests the country should tighten Clean Air rules for fossil fuel plants, especially coal plants.

Since even low levels of the smallest particles are dangerous to humans, Trump’s plans to kill the Clean Power Plan and gut the EPA’s ability to enforce Clean Air rules are even more cruel and immoral than they first appeared.

“It is really a policymaker’s responsibility to make sure that the air everyone breathes is clean and safe,” Chen said. “This is a time when everyone needs to speak up, including scientists.”

The environmental costs and benefits of fracking: The state of research

On July 30, 2014, the United States did something that had been legally prohibited for nearly 40 years: It exported domestically produced crude oil. While minor exports had occurred through the years and the July shipment involved some technical sleight-of-hand (the product was classified as lightly refined “condensates”), it was one of the first significant oil shipments since Congress banned exports in the wake of the 1974 oil embargo.

Respecting the law up to now has been easy, given America’s declining domestic oil production and thirst for imported oil — in 2006, the country imported 3.7 billion barrels. What changed between then and now all comes down to one word: fracking, the popular name for hydraulic fracturing. Combined with horizontal drilling, the technique has powered a boom in U.S. energy production, unlocking substantial petroleum and natural gas deposits trapped in shale formations. A lot of this is good news: U.S. consumers and industry rarely complain when energy prices fall, and reducing imports from unstable parts of the world has considerable appeal. Natural gas also releases half as much carbon dioxide as coal, allowing it to potentially serve as a “bridge fuel” to the cleaner energy supported by the majority of Americans.

Despite these advantages, fracking remains highly controversial, in large part because of the potential damage it poses to human health and the environment. Reports of fracking operations contaminating aquifers are widespread, and research has found indications of higher rates of silicosis among well workers, an increase in congenital defects to children born nearby, and elevated cancer risk due to air pollution. Even earthquakes have been linked to fracking operations. Such concerns have led a number of towns to try to ban the practice, and fracking has become one of the central issues in the 2014 battle for Colorado’s governorship, a crucial swing state.

Air Pollution in China

Coal is the leading culprit of air pollution in China. A recent University of Leeds study sponsored by Greenpeace East Asia traced PM2.5 (fine particles with a diameter under 2.5µm) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and found the amount of PM2.5 released into the air in 2010 alone was more than ten million tons.

The study also confirmed that the majority of air pollution happens when certain gases are discharged into the air and turn into fine particles. And coal burning contributes most of these gases.

China's epic climb to the world's second-largest economy has had devastating health impacts. Another research project co-authored by Greenpeace on the health impacts of coal power plants shows that PM2.5 pollution from the 196 coal-fired power plants in the capital region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei caused 9,900 premature deaths and nearly 70,000 outpatient visits or hospitalizations during 2011. 75% of the premature deaths are caused by the 152 coal-fired power plants in Hebei Province.

Air pollution will remain a serious problem in China as long as coal continues to be the country's major energy source.

PM2.5 concentration levels have particularly endangered public health in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi’an. The PM2.5 concentration levels in all four cities exceed World Heath Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines. This means higher health risks to the cardiovascular system, cerebrovascular system and an increase in the probability of cancer and premature death.